I'm relatively new to hand loading, and on the advice of a friend I purchased a lot of H4895 I have worked up some loads with 130 gr. TSX for 2 30-06's. The Charles Daley will shoot two bullets < 0.125" apart, but the third shot will stray almost 2". Is this possibly due to seating depth, or should I try some other power. I am about 0.05" off of the rifling. I do not have a chronograph, so I have no idea on the velocity. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds more like a barrel heat issue or maybe bedding. I would check the tension of the stock screws first by loosening/tightening them and seeing what happens. If that doesn't solve the problem I would loosen up the action and add a couple of business card under the barrel at the fore end hump in the barrel channel, tighten to the best result you got in the first exercise and see what happens.

Then you can move onto free-floating the barrel and lastly, you can accept that you seldom get more that two shots at a game animal and if they touch from a cold barrel, you are pretty much covered for 99% of hunting shots.

try H-414 or H-4350

4895 is a bit fast for optimum vel. but accuracy is usually very good. Barnes like to be off the lands, try backing it off a bit more, your rifle will tell you where. I would try RL15 or IMR4064 w/ the lighter bullets, H4350, IMR4831 or RL22 w/ bullets 180gr & up.

The 4895 will of course work but if you don't get the results you want try H 4350 EXT or Varget. You certainly picked a fine bullet in the TSX but the length of the 130 is a little short for a 30 cal in some rifles.
The 165 gr should be very accurate and deadly.
Good Luck

4895 is a great powder for the 30-06.Always has been. If you've got a repeatability problem focus on something else first.

However, if when you open the container and it has a definite nitrous oder you got a problem. I used 8 lbs. of it for fertilizer and burned up about 50 to 100 sq, feet of lawn. No joke. roger

IMR 4895 I love....

H 4895 I hate..

It may be worth noting that the U.S. Gov't used/specified primarily IMR 4895 for loading the .30-06 ammo used in all theaters of war by U.S. troops in WW II. Some lots, however, had drastically varying burning rates.

IMR 4895 is the best poweder ,all around, for the 30.06. You may not get the hotest velocities but accuracy is great and it works in the Garand better than anything else. 48 gr IMR 4895 with a 150gr Bullet will shoot MOA in anybody's rifle if the rifle is capable and do 2750fps.
It also works very well for the 9.3x62.

Thank you everybody for the info. I'm going to put some rounds through the old 06 this weekend through the chromatograph, so I will let you know how things work. Thanks again...

If you're not using 4350 in your 30-06, you're making a biiiig mistake. The 30-06 lends itself to its best accuracy with 165-180gr bullets. This, of course, will bring shrieks from the 150gr fans but if you buy a 30-06 and it will not shoot any good 165gr bullet using 57grs of 4350 (either kind), you can save yourself a lot of grief by trading the rifle off.
I have no experience with light for calibre bullets in the 30-06 but I do agree that your problem may well be bedding rather than powder.

I would try a different primer

Whenever I get a two plus one flyer target I always switch primers. Normally my chronograph has shown two very close velocities then an erratic velocity. I contribute this to irregular powder ignition.

I use the distance from the lands to fine tune a load. Say I have a nice triangle group, but just want it to be a little tighter.

DITO to what seafire said! Everybody goes nuts about 4064 or 4350 in the 06, but I have consistently had best results with IMR 4895 in several 30-06s especially with 165-180gr bullets.

For me it presents the best compromise with accuracy and velocity. I have had the best accuracy in the 06 with H-4831, but a wagon train would arrive at the target faster.

I just use IMR 4895 and I'm tired of constantly throwing money at experimenting with other loads. HELL -- 4895 was developed for the 06!

Barstooler

As Barstooler pointed out, 4895 was developed for the military 150 grain loading for the .30-06. I've always had good luck with this powder with a bullet range from 125-165 grains. I'm sure that other powders would perform well, but if it works so good, why fix it???

Is 4895 good for the 06?

I would think so, as it was originally developed for, and used, in Gummit '06 ammo. It came on the market originally after WWII as a salvaged GI powder sold by Bruce Hodgdon in 1# brown paper sandwich bags! I paid $0.25 for my first bag of it!

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
It may be worth noting that the U.S. Gov't used/specified primarily IMR 4895 for loading the .30-06 ammo used in all theaters of war by U.S. troops in WW II. Some lots, however, had drastically varying burning rates.

This is quite correct. I believe it was around 1935 that Du Pont brought out the IMR (Improved Military Rifle) powders, 4198,3031,4064 and 4320. (Note: No mention of 4895) I think, IIRC, the M-1 Garand was adopted in 1937 and I'm guessing that IMR-4895 probably was developed at about the same time. Burning rate varied quite a bit. It became available to NRA members shortly after the end of the war. Members of the NRA could buy this surplus powder through the DCM. Ecah batch one bought came with loading data. Some of this powder was as fast as IMR-4198 and as slow as IMR-4320. For many years, after Hodged bought all the various lots out and bleneded them into one homogenous lot of powder, it was considered to be interchangable with IMR-3031 at the starting load level, from which one could work up for use in the individual rifle. At least in my rifles I had at the time, H-4895 seemed to be a bit slower than 3031.
I have copies of all the American Rifleman from 1936 to the present date, and the first metion of 4895 was when the DCM started selling it in, IIRC, late 1946 Phil Sharpe's book, COMPLETE GUIDE TO HANDLOADING makes no mention of the powder prior to WW-2 and very little after the war. Earl Naramore in his wonderful circa 1954 book PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF LOADING AMMUNTION makes absolutely no mention of 4895.
Makes it a bit of a mystery powder as far as when it was actually developed.
For many years, a charge of H or I 4895 wwith a 150 gr. Sierra SPFB (They didn't call them Pro-hunters way back then.) was my go to load for deer hunting. I got tired if seeing how much good eating meat was wasted when those bullets hit bone and went to 4895 and the 180 gr. Sierra SPFB.
Anyway, that's about all the history on 4895 I have. I do believe that the current version of IMR-4895 as made by IMR in Canada is a bit faster burning that when it was made by Du Pont.
I loaded up some of my original loads with the 150 gr. Sierra so I could run them over a chronograph. I used the same rifle I had back then some of the same bullets I still had,the same number CCI primers, even some of the GI 30-06 brass new and unfired, and the only new part of the equation was the current can of IMR-4895. I had hard bolt lift, an ejector mark on the case and a loose primer pocket on the first firing. What I find puzzling is the load was right in the middle of the start and max loads in a 1964 Lyman loading manual. If you check the latest #48 Lyman Manual, that load is still right in the middle of the start and max loads. I seriously think that Lyman had better reshoot some of the data that has been around a long time.
Paul B.

quote:

I have copies of all the American Rifleman from 1936 to the present date, and the first metion of 4895 was when the DCM started selling it in, IIRC, late 1946 Phil Sharpe's book, COMPLETE GUIDE TO HANDLOADING makes no mention of the powder prior to WW-2 and very little after the war. Earl Naramore in his wonderful circa 1954 book PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF LOADING AMMUNTION makes absolutely no mention of 4895.
Makes it a bit of a mystery powder as far as when it was actually developed.

That's because, for at least a quarter-century after WWII, the only 4895 you ould buy was the surplus powder sold by Hodgdon. It wasn't until nearly 1975 or so that DuPont started selling it to the canister trade as IMR 4895-and when they did, it was considered to have DIFFERENT loading data than the Hodgdon stuff.......

I believe 4895 was indeed originally developed by DuPont exclusively as a propellant for Army Ordnance to use for loading .30/'06 ammo, since it was not then for sale to handloaders.....